Chickenshits worry that no one will “get it.”

“No one understands me!” is the plight of the satirized “creative.” This tender-ego’d, ‘innovator’ who wants to make cool, epic shit that’s adored by the masses. Chickenshits are a lot like these green, insecure artists: they only think it’s successful if EVERYONE gets it. They stay up at night worried that if they make that splash, try that weird, new thing, take that risk, make that joke, use that voice, or demand attention...they’ll face rejection.Well 1: duh. 2: Who cares.

Spin the platitude and you get a good rule of thumb for humor marketing: those who don’t get it don’t matter and those who matter will get it. Put another way, trying to please everyone with your messaging is a surefire way to have a lukewarm response. Sure, it won’t cause you any pangs of rejection but it also won’t get you any applause. And in today’s saturated marketplace, playing it safe is the same as playing dead. So, stop it.

Now picture someone responding, “I don’t get it,” to something fun that you put out there. Then practice smiling confidently, happily, as you whisper, “Good. It’s not for you.”

Because yep—you guessed it—your worst case scenario ends up working for you. When you go big, go fun, go all out in your messaging, you’ll start to learn who isn’t your ideal customer so that you can can start creating specifically for those who are. And THAT’S when people start feeling connected and rabidly fanatic about what you do.